True Crime Stories

  This case is interesting in many ways to me. First it is the case of a woman who would eventually be executed. In fact, in 2001 when Lois Nadean Smith was executed by the state of Oklahoma she was the third woman executed by that state that year. At that time, and maybe still, her execution was notable, not just for the execution itself, or the fact that she was a woman, but also because after being the third woman that year Oklahoma got a “record” for executing the most women in a single year in any state since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. I also find it interesting because prior to this crime she had no criminal record, although I will admit that it seems she was not the most pleasant person. Maybe she had done some other things we do not know about. Lois Nadean Smith earned the nickname “Mean Nadean” when she was in high school. I found nothing specific that she did to earn this name or anything specific about her personality at all prior to the murd...

*** Note that his name is sometimes spelled Jesse in articles and documents, as would generally be the case with a male name. However, most things show the spelling as Jessie. I have chosen this spelling based on the fact that it is the spelling listed in the appeals. I am really not sure where to begin here. Going into this case I was not expecting to be so conflicted. On my list of cases it simply said “Jesse Cummings- sister and niece.” The first page I came to in my research was titled “Child Killer Executed; bigamist denies niece's murder.” Of course it was not surprising to see that an accused killer had insisted they were innocent, the surprising twist was the word bigamist. I could see then that this was going to be a bit more than the run of the mill case. But, I had no idea what I was in for. I have often expressed that I am not a fanatic, for, or against, the death penalty and think that it should only be reserved for those in which there is ab...